Social and Community Research

The Social and Community Research Section identifies what people know, think and value about genetics and genomics. We want to understand a variety of views, including those of scientists, health care workers, and the general public. We use tools such as surveys, focus groups and forums.

Knowing what people think about genetics helps us to develop better policies for Western Australia.

Current projects include:

• Exploring the sources that members of the WA public use to obtain information about ‘genes and health’.
• Documenting the findings from our community forums on Biobanking in WA.
• Exploring the communication of genetic information between family members in different clinical contexts.
• Evaluating community perceptions of a brochure OPHG is developing to highlight family history as a risk factor for chronic disease.
• Exploring the information needs of Western Australian women prior to undertaking prenatal screening.

For recent papers from the Social and Community Research Section refer to Publications.